FOR-SITE presents Bryan Keith Thomas At The Guardhouse — Birthright: Revolutionary Aspects Of Freedom (2025) a new installation inside The Guardhouse at Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture (FMCAC), on view from January 24, 2025 to April 20, 2025. The installation is free and open to the public, viewable through the windows 24 hours per day. The Guardhouse is located at the main entrance to FMCAC.

Bryan Keith Thomas creates a temporary art installation celebrating the Black experience through its historic symbols inside the former military guard station at the main entrance to FMCAC. Thomas’s installation serves as an important touch-point for FOR-SITE’s next major exhibition project opening June 2025 at Fort Point National Historic Site in San Francisco, with more details to be revealed in the coming weeks.

The public opening reception for Bryan Keith Thomas At The Guardhouse takes place on Friday, January 24, 2025, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., during the Fort Mason Winter 2025 Art Walk. Artist talks also occur at 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Free Admission

Artist and educator Bryan Keith Thomas’ Birthright: Revolutionary Aspects of Freedom (2025), invites viewers to reflect, remember, and reimagine the legacies we carry and the freedoms we cherish, celebrating a shared heritage that transcends time and place. Thomas’s art practice celebrates the Black experience through the use of historic symbols such as cotton, roses, church fans, Holy Bibles, and cultural artifacts.

The transformative power of memory, heritage, and freedom are central to Birthright. Inspired by the grandeur and symbolism of a 19th-century birthday celebration, the installation pays tribute to the beauty, resilience, and legacy of the Black American experience, offering a dynamic exploration of ancestry and collective memory. In asking the question, “Who has the right to a birthday party?” Thomas underscores the humanity inherent in such celebrations, turning the birthday into an act of self-affirmation and cultural pride.

About The Artist. Bryan Keith Thomas was born in Dyersburg, TN, and received his MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He currently resides in Oakland, CA, where he serves as Professor of Fine Art within the Painting and Drawing and Critical Ethnic Studies departments at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Thomas received the “White House Honor” as a guest of former First Lady Laura Bush for his contributions to the Art in Embassies Program in Washington, DC. His work has been exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally at venues such as Art Basel Miami, de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum of California, Gallery Guichard in Chicago, ArtJaz Gallery in Philadelphia, E&S Gallery in Louisville, the American Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, and the DuSable Museum in Chicago, among others. Additionally, his paintings are included in several private and public collections worldwide.

About FOR-SITE. Established in 2003, FOR-SITE is dedicated to the creation, understanding, and presentation of art about place. For more information, visit: FOR-SITE.org.

About The Guardhouse Program. The Guardhouse Program is designed to serve three artists annually, directly supporting the year-round creation, presentation, and understanding of art about place. Each artist activates the former military guard station with a temporary art installation responding to the natural and cultural significance of the site and its surrounding area. The Guardhouse Program launched through an open call for proposals in 2023.

Bryan Keith Thomas At The Guardhouse is presented by FOR-SITE in partnership with Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. The Guardhouse Program is made possible thanks to generous support from the ARB Fund.